In a previous article, we summarised the requirements for residential aged care providers to report weekly on the COVID-19 vaccination status of their workers. Those requirements came into effect 15 June 2021 and continue to apply.
In addition, the Department of Health has announced that:
The Department is collecting de-identified data, so you won’t have to provide names of workers or residents, just numbers.
Reporting vaccination status of workers is currently mandatory and must be reported every week. Reporting vaccination status of residents is mandatory from 27 July 2021. From then on, you must report every week. This means you must collect data every week and report it every week.
Report via the My Aged Care service provider portal.
The Department of Health defines “resident” as “any individual residing in your service’s aged care facilities, including residential respite care, during the weekly reporting period.”
The definition of worker is broad and includes anyone (including volunteers) responsible for resident care, support and services for residents, maintenance or administration at a residential care facility.
Residents do not have to get COVID-19 vaccinated. Also, residents do not have to tell you whether or not they are vaccinated. However, it is likely that you will already have a record of the resident’s vaccination status.
If a resident declines to be vaccinated or to provide information on their vaccination status, you should still include them in the total number of residents at the service.
You do not need to report information on the type of vaccine (AstraZeneca or Pfizer) the resident has received or when or where the vaccination was administered.
Contact your local Primary Health Network or general practice to organise local access to a vaccination.
Reporting vaccination status of workers is currently mandatory and must be reported every week. Reporting vaccination status of residents is mandatory from 27 July 2021. From then on, you must report every week. This means you must collect data every week and report it every week.
Report via the My Aged Care service provider portal.
According to the Department of Health, “worker” means “all staff, including volunteers and subcontractors, who access, or are reasonably likely to access, any premises where the operation or administration of the service
occurs. This includes all people in your service who deliver aged care services to people in their homes
and in the community, and who work at your business premises including office staff.”
As at 19 July 2021, COVID vaccinations are “strongly encouraged”, but this is not a legal requirement. Also, workers do not have to tell you whether or not they are vaccinated, and you should not pressure them to answer.
If a worker declines to provide information on their vaccination status, you should still include them in the total number of workers at the service.
As at 19 July 2021, workers are “strongly encouraged” to confirm their vaccination status, but this is not a legal requirement.
The Department advises that if a worker wants to show evidence of their vaccination, they can provide:
If workers (including volunteers) work across multiple organisations/services, providers should record workers against the service where they spend the most time. If a worker spends approximately the same amount of time across multiple services, you can attribute them to a single outlet so that they are only counted once.
The Department of Health encourages you to “have respectful conversations with workers on the new reporting of
aged care workforce COVID-19 vaccination status and to ensure they understand:
You should also consider sharing with your workers this fact sheet from the Department of Health: Department of Health: Factsheet to support in-home and community aged care workers on the new reporting requirement
In regard to residential care providers and HCP and STRC services, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) will monitor compliance with the reporting requirements and has power to take regulatory action if you do not comply. This may include sanctions.
The data you will have to collect under these requirements is minimal: you only have to collect the total number of workers, and number of vaccinations. But it will still cost you time, staffing resources and effort to collect and report on this information every week. So why not get something useful out of a task you have to do anyway?
When drafting your data collection forms, consider adding a few more fields that you can fill in when talking to your workers or reviewing records. These might include:
When collecting information from workers make sure you adhere to privacy requirements: